You're Not Sorry
by Kelso09
Summary: Will words spoken out of anger drive Pepper away from Tony forever?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I know I should be working on 'Moving?' but I can't decide between the 3 different ways I could move the story in, I actually plan to set up a poll on my profile to get some outside input on it. Anyways, I was sitting in my Humanities class and this idea popped into my head, and I had to write it down so I did. (Just a heads up the characters get a _little_ OOC in this story.)

**Disclaimer: I don't own Iron Man: Armored Adventures**

"Rhodey, I'm worried about Tony. Ever since Gene told him his dad is alive he's been in the lab more than he used to. I know he's fixing it up because the stupid Tong blew it up and that isn't what bothers me, what bothers me is the he refuses to let us anywhere near the armory."

"Pepper, I wouldn't worry too much about it. This is Tony we're talking about. You should know that when something is important to him he takes it very seriously and right now the most important thing to him is finding his dad."

"But that's just it. I don't know if he ever will find his dad" Pepper replied solemnly.

"I wouldn't let Tony hear you say that. Besides how could you even think that?"

"Think of who said his dad was alive."

"Gene did, so?"

"In case you forgot he hasn't proven himself to be a very trustworthy person."

"Well yeah but I have a hard time believing that even a jerk like him would lie about something like this."

"You'd be surprised at what he's lied about," Pepper replied as she lowered her head to look down at the ground.

"What're you talking about Pepper? Do you know something that Tony and I don't know? What aren't you telling us?"

"I know a lot of things that you guys don't know or even care to know, but that's not the point."

"Pepper, I meant something about Gene."

"Then yes, but they're not important…" she said meekly.

"Pepper…" just as Rhodey was about to try and coax an answer out of his red headed friend the doorbell rang, "That's the pizza. Pepper, will you please go get Tony."

"Ugh. Why Rhodey? Why does it have to be me that has to go get him. You are perfectly capable of going to get him. So, why not you?"

"Because, Pepper, he's more likely to listen to you."

"Whatever…"

*at the armory*

"Tony? Are you in here?" Pepper shouted as she started to search the armory for her friend.

"Pepper?"

"Tony? There you are. I've b…"

"What are you doing in here?" He asked angrily not even caring that he had interrupted the girl.

"Duh. I was looking for you."

"Well you found me. What do you want?"

"There's no need to be rude. I was sent to come get you so you'll come eat lunch."

"I'm not really hungry and…"

"Tony you've been 'not really hungry' for like the past month, you need to go eat something."

"I'll eat after I find my dad," with that he turned to go back to his work but was stopped by the hand that was placed on his shoulder.

"Tony, starving yourself won't help you find your dad. Besides what if you can't find him?"

"What makes you think I won't?"

"Well think of who told you your dad was fine."

"It was Gene so?"

Pepper was now officially pissed. She couldn't figure out how after everything that Gene Khan had done to them Rhodey and Tony could still trust him on this. She couldn't understand how they didn't realize that their trusting Gene had led to the betrayal that they faced just over a month ago. "What if he was lying? What if your dad is really dead and you can't find him? What if Gene lied, huh? Did you think of that?"

The next few seconds happened so fast Pepper didn't know what happened till it was over. In mere seconds Tony had turned around, grabbed both her wrists, and pinned her forcefully against the nearest wall. His once crystal blue eyes seemed to turn to black as he yelled his next words at her.

"If there is even the slightest possibility that my dad is alive and that I can find him then I am going to try with every ounce of strength I have. You can't possibly understand how I feel right now so don't try. So, why don't you just keep your worthless opinions to yourself because they're just as useless and stupid as you are," with every heart shattering word his grip tightened around her wrists and just when she thought they would break he let go and turned back to where he had been working.

"Tony…" Pepper managed to choke out through the waterfall of tears that were pouring down her face.

"GET OUT! NOW!" Pepper didn't want to be yelled at again so she took off running towards her house, not even bothering to stop inside Rhodey's house to grab her belongings or to apologize to Rhodey as she ran into him on her way out of the armory.

After paying for the pizza Rhodey had decided to come see what was taking so long and was thoroughly pissed at what he found when he got down to the armory. He had walked in to see Pepper with her back against the wall crying with Tony yelling at her to get out. Rhodey wasn't sure what had transpired between his two best friends, but he knew that if Pepper was crying like that than something bad had happened and he was gonna find out what. So Rhodey walked up to the boy who was once again engrossed in his work and forcefully turned him around and ordered him to explain what happened.

"What are you talking about Rhodey?"

"Pepper just ran out of here in tears after you yelled at her to 'get out' or did you forget that?"

"No I didn't but I was trying to," Tony replied as he turned his face to the side to hide the hint of sadness in his features.

"Are you gonna explain to me what happened or am I gonna have to consult the security tape?" He said turning to face the computer screen.

"You can watch the video," replied Tony as he continued his work on the armor.

Rhodey sat down at the screen and rewound the tape to where Pepper had entered the lab. He watched as Tony snapped at Pepper while she remained calm, it was only when Tony failed to see why Pepper doubted his source of information did she lose it, although compared to Tony's reaction Pepper seemed to merely raise her voice. Rhodey couldn't believe he saw happen next. Tony had pinned Pepper against the wall and was yelling at her at the top of his voice completely oblivious to the tears streaming down her face. However, what happened next left him almost speechless. Tony had called Pepper "useless" and "stupid".

"Tony!"

"What?" Before Tony could turn around all the way to face his friend Rhodey punched him as hard as he could in the jaw. "What the hell was that about?"

"I can't even believe you have to ask. Fine if you don't know watch the video!" Rhodey decided that if after watching the tape Tony still couldn't see what he had done wrong than he, Rhodey, would just beat him up till he figured it out.

Tony watched the tape in horror. He remembered yelling at Pepper but he didn't remember pinning her against the wall or calling her useless and stupid. Rhodey watched his friend with a careful eye as he watched the video and was taken aback when Tony showed the amount of shock on his face that he did.

"Rhodey _please _tell me I didn't do that," begged Tony. He was disgusted with himself. Pepper was one of his best friends and if what he was watching was true he just treated her like she was nothing.

"Dude, you just watched the tape. You can't honestly tell me you don't remember doing that?"

"That's just it. I don't, well not all of it at least. I remember yelling at her but I most definitely don't remember pinning her against the wall and calling her…that"

"So you don't think she's stupid and/or useless?"

"No. I don't and there is no way I ever could," snapped Tony.

"Then why'd you say it?" challenged Rhodey.

"I don't know. I was upset and I swear on my life I didn't mean it. I guess I just said it without thinking of any consequences."

"Well, your lack of the ability to think before you speak, or in this case yell, has Pepper really upset," he said gesturing to the screen that showed how upset Pepper had been after the exchange between the two.

Tony was now frantic. He knew he screwed up and all he could do was hope Pepper would forgive him for his stupidity like she always did even though deep down he knew he probably didn't deserve her forgiveness and on some level her friendship and loyalty. "But I didn't mean it! She'll understand that right?"

"I'm guessing not since she was feeling like that before you said anything."

"What're you talking about?"

"For a genius you can be really stupid at times." When all he got was a confused look from his friend he continued on. "Well, she felt stupid because she really liked Gene and he turned out to be a humongous jerk that stabbed us in the back and…"

"Wait. I'm confused I liked Gene too but I don't feel stupid because of it."

"Dude I guarantee you didn't like him in the same way she did," he said with a smirk.

"What're you," it was then that it hit Tony what he meant, "Oh, I didn't know that."

"Obviously," ignoring the glare Tony was now giving him he continued on with his explanation, "Anyway, she feels useless cause a certain genius won't let her help with anything Iron Man related since Fing Fang Foom and even before that you only let her do limited amounts of things."

"I had no idea she felt like that," with the second half of Rhodey's explanation Tony officially felt like crap. He couldn't believe he had been so oblivious to someone he called his best friend's feelings.

"Well she does feel like that and you telling her what you said only made things worse."

"I have to apologize to her," with that he pulled out his phone and tried calling her. After trying for nearly ten minutes he came to the conclusion she was screening his calls and that he would just have to go apologize in person, something he mentally scolded himself for because he didn't think of doing it sooner. So, with that thought he took off running as fast as he could towards her house.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to go beg for forgiveness from Pepper."

Well, what do you think? Was it good? Bad? Should I continue or should I just end it here? Either way please review!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Iron Man Armored Adventures

I should be taking notes for my psychology class but instead of writing stuff down about Freud that I already know, I am working on this story. : D

*Flashback*

"_If there is even the slightest possibility that my dad is alive and that I can find him then I am going to try with every ounce of strength I have. You can't possibly understand how I feel right now so don't try. So, why don't you just keep your worthless opinions to yourself because they're just as useless and stupid as you are," with every heart shattering word his grip tightened around her wrists and just when she thought they would break he let go and turned back to where he had been working._

*End Flashback*

Pepper ran home in a state of heartbroken shock. She couldn't get what Tony had told her out of her head. She had seen herself as useless at times and she thought she was stupid for falling for Gene but to hear Tony say it was terrible. As soon as the words left his mouth she felt as if her heart had been ripped out of her chest. She ran inside her house and went straight to her room where she collapsed on her bed in a fit of uncontrollable sobs. She was so lost in her thoughts she didn't notice her father had entered her room until her sat on her bed and asked if she wanted to talk about whatever it was that was causing her so much pain.

"I rather just be alone right now, if that's okay" she said through the tears.

"Well, alright if you need anything just let me know" he stated as he offered her a small smile as he turned to walk out of her room.

"Daddy, why are guys such jerks?" Virgil was taken aback by the question and immediately grew more concerned with the fact she called him 'daddy', something she hadn't done since her mother had passed away.

"Pepper, sweetie, you're gonna have to explain to me what you mean by that" he replied as he walked back to her bed and sat down.

Without warning she flung herself at her father and sobbed into his shoulder while mumbling something about 'idiots' and 'uselessness' and something that sounded a lot like 'I'm such an idiot'. Virgil wanted to pull her away and ask her to repeat what she had said but he knew that what she really needed at the moment was just to let it all out. After a few minutes Pepper pulled away and whispered a quick thank you, which Virgil took as a sign to leave.

"Pepper, I'm gonna go start dinner. If you need anything just holler at me and I'll be here, ok?"

"Yeah."

Pepper waited until her dad left to curl back up on her bed and think about what happened. She couldn't figure out what she had done to make Tony so angry with her. She was halfway through replaying what had occurred in her head for the second time when the doorbell rang and snapped her out of her train of thought and caused her to shoot up in bed. She heard her dad call up the stairs that he'd get it so she sunk back in her bed with a sigh. She was about to take a quick nap before dinner when she heard a knock at her door.

"Pepper…?" Pepper was sure her heart had literally stopped beating. She tried to figure out why _he,_ out all the people in the world, was here.

Tony was determined to get to Pepper's house and do whatever it took to get her to forgive him. The trip to her house was spent with thoughts on how he was going to convince her to forgive him one more time. When he was about 5 minutes from her house when his phone rang and he immediately answered hoping it was Pepper.

"Pepper?"

"No, it's me, Rhodey."

"What do you want?"

"I was calling to let you know my mom wants you home right now."

"Can't you tell her to that I have to take care of something important and that I'll be back when I am done?"

"I could do that but then she is going to want to know what's so important then I will have to explain what happened with Pepper and…"

"I'm on my way back just don't tell her what I did, please" he said while making his way back home.

"Fine. I'll let her know you're headed back."

"Thanks," Tony muttered before taking a brief pause and adding "Hey, Rhodey do you think Pepper will forgive me?"

"Do you want me to be honest?"

"Please."

"Honestly Tony, I don't know. She's forgiven you for like everything in the past but this time I think only time will tell. You really hurt her and I think if she does forgive you it will take time and she'll probably never look at you the same again."

"What do you mean she won't look at me the same again?"

"Dude, you pinned her against the wall and yelled in her face that she was stupid and useless. If she forgives you I can almost guarantee she won't be able to look at you without thinking about that."

"Rhodey, how could I have screwed up so much so fast?"

"I don't know man. How about we talk about this when you get back?"

"Ok, see you in bit" and with that he hung up the phone without waiting for a response from Rhodey. He spent the rest of the trip home trying to not think about what he would do if Pepper didn't forgive him. Just the thought of Pepper not talking to him made him upset. He then decided that if she did forgive him he would make sure that he never hurt her again.

That's it for this chapter. Please Review!


End file.
